5. What Has Washington State Learned?

WSDOT staff has encountered two major challenges in developing its comprehensive TAM program.

The first is delivering WSDOT's program statewide utilizing the available workforce. The department has addressed this concern by tracking and reporting on the available workforce every quarter so that this information can be shared with the public and the legislature. Having this information available has proven a valuable tool during the analysis of tradeoffs that WSDOT conducts as part of its project scoping process.

The other major challenge falls to the regional offices, which are tasked with delivering programmed projects on time and on budget while
prioritizing future needs and preparing proposals for the upcoming biennium. Finding the resources to do so is a juggling act, but WSDOT is
committed to making it happen. Use of tools such as the Workbench will help by minimizing the time regional planners spend searching for
and correlating data.

Even as it juggles to meet these demands, WSDOT says it is happy with the distributed method of asset management, where everyone is
responsible for managing the department's assets wisely. "This design is intentional," says Bremmer. "There are too many moving parts for one expert."